Irrigation
Irrigate the basins before dibbling the seeds and thereafter once a week.

Application of fertilizers
Apply 10 kg of FYM per pit (20 t/ha) 100 g of NPK 6:12:12/pit as basal and 10 g of N/pit 30 days after sowing.Apply Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria 2 kg/ha and Pseudomonas @ 2.5 kg/ha along with FYM 50 kg and neem cake @ 100 kg before last ploughing.

Quality seedling production
Bitter gourd is a direct sown vegetable but polythene bag nursery is more advantageous to get early marketing and to avoid more gap filling. Use 200 gauge poly bags of 10 cm diameter x 10 cm height for sowing the seeds. Transplant about 15 days old seedlings to the main field.

Drip irrigation
Install drip system with main and sub-main pipes and place the inline lateral tubes at an interval of 1.5m. Place the drippers in lateral tubes at an interval of 60 cm and 50 cm spacing with 4LPH and 3.5 LPH capacities respectively.

Field preparation
Form the raised beds of 120cm width (120 cm) and spread the lateral tubes in the centre of each bed. Irrigation is done in the beds by operating the drip system continuously for 8-12 hrs. Spray pre emergence herbicide like Pendimethalin @ 1 Kg a.i/ha just before planting. Planting or sowing is done at the holes made at 2 m distance.

Fertigation
Apply a dose of 200:100:100 kg NPK/ha throughout the cropping period through split application.

After cultivation
Hoeing is done thrice to control weeds. Provide stakes to reach the pandal (2 m). Spray Ethrel 100 ppm (1 ml dissolved in 10 lit of water) four times from 15th day after sowing at weekly intervals.

Beetles, fruit flies and caterpillars
Beetles, fruit flies and caterpillars can be controlled by spraying Malathion 50 EC 1ml/lit or Dimethoate 30 EC 1ml/lit or Methyl demeton 25 EC 1ml/lit. Do not use DDT, copper and sulphur dust, as these are phytotoxic.